Latest News from The Bookseller

HarperCollins in ”terms dispute" with Amazon The ongoing terms negotiation between Amazon and HarperCollins in the US has been reported by Business Insider, the online newspaper that counts Amazon founder Jeff Bezos among its investors.

The Girl on the Train reaches number one Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (Doubleday) climbs sixteen places to claim the UK number one on the Official Top 50 in its 11th week on the chart.

Scarrow moves to MCB from Penguin A series of high-profile acquistions have galvanised this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, including Alex Scarrow’s sensational move of publisher, an Egmont series on coding and a science fiction twist on the “sick lit” genre. Macmillan Children’s Books announced a “substantial” three-book deal for Scarrow, bringing the TimeRiders author over to MCB from his long-time publisher Penguin. MCB 6+ publisher Venetia Gosling bought world and digital rights from Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates.

Forest Bookshop to close after 40 years The last independent bookshop in the Forest of Dean is set to close after 40 years. The Forest Bookshop in Coleford, the only remaining independent bookshop in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, is closing its doors after 40 years due to competition from online retailers and unfavourable conditions for shoppers. Septuagenarian owner Douglas McLean explained on The Forest Bookshop’s website that online book services and the introduction of parking charges in the town in 2012 were forcing him to shut up shop.

Business as usual at buzzy Bologna Exhibitors at this year’s fair have said business has been strong, yet there have been few break-out trends. Adrian Soar, commercial director at Nosy Crow, said his stand was “fantastically busy” but said there was no change in what people were looking for: “People want fiction and picture books. In fiction, it is funny books and in picture books a lot of visitors want novelty. There is also a lot of demand for beautiful picture books.”

PRH 'committed' to Jeremy Clarkson publishing schedule Penguin Random House has said there are no plans to change Jeremy Clarkson’s publishing schedule, and that it is committed to the television presenter, after he was sacked from Top Gear for hitting a producer. Currently Michael Joseph publishes books by Clarkson, while BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury, publishes the Top Gear books. Michael Joseph released Clarkson’s last book, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? in hardback in September 2014, with the paperback due in May this year.

New Asterix title due as Pippi goes digital In two major announcements for heritage brands at yesterday’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair it was revealed that Pippi Longstocking will appear in e-book for the first time and there will be a new title in Hachette’s Asterix stable. Oxford University Press inked the first-ever deal with the Astrid Lindgren Estate to publish the three original Pippi Longstocking stories as digital books.

Fourth Millennium book cover revealed The fourth book in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series will be called The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Quercus today (31st March) revealed the title and the UK cover for the book, which has been written by Swedish author David Lagercrantz, co-author of footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s autobiography I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovich (Penguin).

Food and Drink Book Award winners revealed A book charting the challenges of rural living, an examination on what the food we buy and eat says about us, and a humourous look at middle-class wine drinking were among the winners at the annual André Simon Food & Drink Book Awards. The awards, hosted by novelist Julian Barnes and cookery writer Annie Bell last night (31st March) at the Goring Hotel in London, showcase the best in contemporary food and drink writing.

Fair copyright for libraries call The Wellcome Trust, the National Library of Scotland and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals are among the groups calling on fair copyright for libraries and archives across Europe. The groups have signed up to the London Manifesto, put together because “non standardised copyright laws across Europe are failing to support the vision of a digital single market because they currently prevent fair access and use of digital content”.

Foyles to release sleep-detector bookmark Foyles is adding to its range of book related gifts and stationery with an electronic bookmark which can sense when a reader has fallen asleep and wake them to continue reading, called boo!mark by Foyles™. Created by LIDA, boo!mark by Foyles™ uses patented (pending) Snornar® technology to monitor breathing patterns in order to detect any snoring or heavy breathing before waking readers from slumber with a “boo!” that is available in a range of volume settings.

Coles leaves Little, Brown after 30 years Andy Coles is to leave Little, Brown after 30 years with the publisher. Coles, who works in the sales team at the Hachette-owned company, will officially leave the publisher on 30th April, but his leaving party was held last night (31st March). Robert Manser, group sales director for Little, Brown and Orion, said Coles’ leaving was “bittersweet”.